Of Human Bondage is a 1946

1946 in film

The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...

 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

directed by Edmund Goulding

Edmund Goulding

Edmund Goulding was a British film writer and director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 British made Paramount silent Three Live Ghosts alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. Also in the early 20s he wrote several screenplays for star Mae Murray and...

. The second screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...

's 1915 novel

Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although Maugham stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography, though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention." Maugham, who had...

, the Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 release was written by Catherine Turney. The central characters are Philip Carey, a clubfooted medical student, and Mildred Rogers, a low-class waitress with whom he becomes obsessed.

Plot synopsis

Philip, an impoverished failed artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

, is attending medical school

Medical school

A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, using a trust set up for him by a wealthy uncle

Uncle

An uncle is a type of familial relationship.Uncle may also refer to:* Uncle , by J. P. Martin* U.N.C.L.E., a fictional organization in the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E....

 for tuition

Tuition

Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...

. When he initially meets Mildred, she pays scant attention to him and he finds her common and crass, but his wounded pride spurs him to return to the restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 where she works, hoping to spark her interest. He invites her to accompany him to the theatre and, because she has nothing else to do, Mildred accepts. Philip spends what little money he has on her before she breaks a date with him and an ugly argument ensues. When he discovers she apparently has run off to marry one of her regular customers, Miller, he initially is happy to be free from his emotional bondage to her.

Philip resumes a relationship with Nora Nesbitt, an author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 he had met in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, but it soon becomes obvious to her that her love for him is returned only as friendship. A pregnant Mildred, abandoned by the married Miller, returns seeking Philip's help, and he takes her away to Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, willing to marry her and adopt the child. He introduces her to his handsome and personable friend Harry Griffiths, who entrances Mildred and steals her away from him.

Philip strikes up a friendship with Anthelny, one of his patients, and quickly becomes a regular at the man's family Sunday dinners. He attracts the attention of Athelny’s oldest daughter Sally, but when he sees the homeless Mildred in the street, he offers her and her baby a place to stay. The relationship is platonic

Platonic love

Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...

, and Mildred becomes increasingly enraged by Philip's apparent lack of interest in her. When he spurns her physical advances, she chases him out of his home and then burns his money and trashes his apartment. Philip catches pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 and is nursed back to health by Griffiths, who eventually takes him to the hospital charity ward where Mildred is dying. With the burden of his obsession lifted by her passing, Philip returns to Sally.

Production notes

The first screen adaptation, filmed in 1934, made a star of Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

 who, frustrated with the unsubstantial roles she was being assigned at Warner Bros., had campaigned long and hard for Jack L. Warner to release her to RKO

RKO Pictures

RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...

 to make the movie.

In 1944, hoping he could do for another of his contract players what the first film had done for Davis, Warner decided to give the part of Mildred to Eleanor Parker

Eleanor Parker

Eleanor Jean Parker is an American screen actress. Her versatility led to her being dubbed Woman of a Thousand Faces, the title of her biography by Doug McClelland.- Early life :...

, at the time better known for sweet young lady roles. Director Goulding, unconvinced she could handle it, tested Parker twice before he decided she could pull it off. To prepare, Parker studied the Cockney

Cockney

The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...

 dialect with character actress

Character actor

A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

 Doris Lloyd

Doris Lloyd

Hessy Doris Lloyd was an English actress.She appeared in over 150 films between 1920 and 1967, including the 1933 low-budget Monogram Pictures version of Oliver Twist, in which she played Nancy...

, who had a small supporting role in the film. She perfected it so well British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 extras

Extra (actor)

A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...

 thought she was one of them.

In order to explain the non-English accent of Philip Carey, portrayed by Paul Henreid, reference was made to his Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n mother. Henreid was actually too old for the role and was fitted with a blond wig

Wig

A wig is a head of hair made from horsehair, human hair, wool, feathers, yak hair, buffalo hair, or synthetic materials which is worn on the head for fashion or various other aesthetic and stylistic reasons, including cultural and religious observance. The word wig is short for periwig and first...

 to disguise his age.

The film was completed in 1944 but, following a disastrous preview screening, was shelved for two years. After edits that lost Parker some of her best moments (a death scene showing her ravaged by illness was considered too grim for audiences and cut) and severely reduced Alexis Smith

Alexis Smith

Alexis Smith was a Canadian-born stage, film, and television actress. She appeared in several major Hollywood movies in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Award in 1972.-Life and career:...

's performance from a lead to a supporting character, it was released to mostly poor reviews and largely ignored by the moviegoing public.

Principal cast

• Paul Henreid ..... Philip Carey
• Eleanor Parker
  Eleanor Parker
  Eleanor Jean Parker is an American screen actress. Her versatility led to her being dubbed Woman of a Thousand Faces, the title of her biography by Doug McClelland.- Early life :...
  
   ..... Mildred Rogers
• Edmund Gwenn
  Edmund Gwenn
  Edmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
  
   ..... Athelny
• Janis Paige
  Janis Paige
  Janis Paige is an American film, musical theatre and television actress. Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows...
  
   ..... Sally Athelny
• Patric Knowles
  Patric Knowles
  Reginald Lawrence Knowles was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s...
  
   ..... Harry Griffiths
• Isobel Elsom
  Isobel Elsom
  Isobel Elsom was an English screen, stage, and television actress.-Career:Born as Isobel Jeannette Reed in Cambridge, England, Elsom usually was cast as an aristocratic lady of the upper class. Over the course of three decades she appeared in 17 Broadway productions, beginning with The Ghost Train...
  
   ..... Mrs. Athelny
• Alexis Smith
  Alexis Smith
  Alexis Smith was a Canadian-born stage, film, and television actress. She appeared in several major Hollywood movies in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Award in 1972.-Life and career:...
  
   ..... Norah Nesbitt
• Henry Stephenson
  Henry Stephenson
  Henry Stephenson , sometimes credited as Harry Stephenson, was a British character actor....
  
   ..... Dr. Tyrell
• Una O'Connor
  Una O'Connor
  Una O'Connor was an Irish actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a notable character actress in film.-Life and work:...
  
   ..... Mrs. Foreman

Principal production credits

• Producers
  Film producer
  A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
  
   ..... Henry Blanke
  Henry Blanke
  Henry Blanke was a German-born film producer who also worked as an assistant director, supervisor, writer, and production manager. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for The Nun's Story ....
  
  , Jack L. Warner
• Original Music
  Film score
  A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
  
   ..... Erich Wolfgang Korngold
  Erich Wolfgang Korngold
  Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
  
  
• Cinematography
  Cinematography
  Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
  
   ..... J. Peverell Marley
  J. Peverell Marley
  J. Peverell Marley was an American cinematographer. He is one of only six cinematographers to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame...
  
  
• Art Direction
  Art director
  The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
  
   ..... Harry Kelso, Hugh Reticker
• Set Decoration
  Scenic design
  Scenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
  
   ..... George James Hopkins
• Costume Design
  Costume design
  Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
  
   ..... Milo Anderson

Critical reception

In his review in the New York Times, Bosley Crowther

Bosley Crowther

Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...

 described the remake

Remake

A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...

 as "a pale and pedestrian repeat . . . so manufactured and dramatically inert that even those who did not see the original will likely find it disappointingly dull . . . the role of Philip Carey is performed by Paul Henreid in a highly self-conscious and completely unconvincing style . . . a girl named Eleanor Parker wiggles and whines so elaborately in the role of the licentious waitress that her manner seems almost in jest . . . Edmund Goulding, the director, must share a part of the blame for the stuffed and mechanical performance of these two characters . . . although the screen-writer, Catherine Turney, didn't help matters any here . . . Of Human Bondage, in this version, is pretty much of a thorough-going bore."

Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

said the film "has been given excellent period mounting to fit early London background, is well-played and directed in individual sequences, but lacks overall smoothness . . . Edmund Goulding's direction gets good work out of the cast generally and helps interest although most of major characters carry little sympathy."

TV Guide

TV Guide

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

says, "Henreid and Parker do admirable jobs, though they certainly don't match Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard (actor)

Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer. Among his best-known roles was Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind and roles in Berkeley Square , Of Human Bondage , The Scarlet Pimpernel , The Petrified Forest , Pygmalion , Intermezzo , Pimpernel Smith...

or Bette Davis . . . Though by no means a great picture . . . [it] is certainly an entertaining one.

External links

• Of Human Bondage at the Internet Movie Database